How to Cleanse the Microbiome
Article by Stefan Burns - Updated July 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!
For proper hygiene and health, it is good to occasionally cleanse the microbiome. The microbiome are all the microorganisms that live in the environment, on the body, and inside the body. The microbiome is incredibly important for life to exist, being life at a smaller scale, and when the microbiome becomes disorderly for best wellness it should be cleansed carefully.
The microbiome can be cleaned to a large degree in one day, and if you feel your microbiome requires a cleansing then set aside sufficient time to follow these steps. Each step has a point value, and at the end total up the points from each step you completed to see how rigorous your microbiome cleanse was, and how it can improve next time it’s done.
Full Skin Microbiome Clean
Step One | 1 Hour | 10 points
There are a few ways to clean the skin. The most common methods are with a shower or bath. If a natural pool of water is available, a scrub-down there qualifies. If dry sand or clay is available, or a rough dry towel, a dry scrub also qualifies. A hot sauna or steam room followed by a shower and/or toweling off is another excellent way to cleanse the skin.
Each way of cleaning the skin and its microbiome will be different in effect. It’s good to clean the skin in a variety of ways at different frequencies.
Here is a typical way to proceed with a full skin microbiome cleanse:
Run a shower with warm water
Blow the nose out and wash the face with soap
Lather the hair with a natural shampoo (I mix aloe vera gel, liquid soap, and tea tree oil)
Scrub the full body and all parts with soap
Rinse the head using your fingers, massage the scalp
Dry towel off and vigorously scrub the skin of any imperfections
Apply aloe vera and essential oils to any location that could use some healing
Q-tip the ears
Consider using an agent like bentonite clay to help. Bentonite clay can be added to bath water, or it can made into a mud and applied to the face or anywhere on the skin. As the clay dries it will pull together and tighten the skin it’s on. Bentonite clay can be made into a mud with water or a dilution of apple cider vinegar.
BONUS | Sauna 10-20 minutes | 5 points
Perform heat/cold therapy by alternating using a sauna and/or steam room with a cold shower or cold plunge. 10 minutes in the sauna followed by a 5 minute cold shower done twice is my standard way to performing heat/cold therapy.
Heat/Cold Therapy Benefits
Acutely stresses the circulatory system and increases its performance
Flushes toxins and excess electrolytes from the skin via sweat
Activates heat and cold shock proteins which exert anti-inflammatory and longevity effects
Strengthens the metabolism and energy systems of the body
Note - Be careful performing heat therapy if you have low blood pressure.
Wash Mouth
Step Two | 10 Minutes | 5 points
Scrap the tongue of biofilm and flush away. Brush teeth with a natural toothpaste containing ingredients like peppermint oil, bentonite clay, silica, baking soda. Floss in-between teeth and finish with a gargle of lightly salted water.
Wash All Clothes
Step Three | 1 Hour | 5 points
In-between the various tasks of the day wash all dirty clothes. When interacting with the environment, whether this is with others or not, clothes will pick up and carry some of the microbiome encountered. Wearing clothes overtime exposes you to this microbiome. Washing clothes often and well is an important part of cleansing the microbiome because after the complete wash done in step 1, wearing clean clothes afterwards won’t reseed the microbiome of the past back onto your skin.
Cleansing the microbiome can be thought of as pulling the vines off a tree. Ivy or kudzu growing at the base of a tree climbs up with time becomes suffocating to the tree. Cutting the vines at the trunk and removing the roots of the vines at the base of the tree sever the connection between the heavy ivy at the top of the tree and the nutrients they need from the soil. The ivy up in the tree might stay green for a while, but eventually it will die off and the tree is cleaned of an burdensome influences. Cleansing the microbiome for optimal health is the same way.
The cycles of microbiome seeding from the environment and others can be cut off through actions like washing or fasting, and when this is done, the endogenous symbiotic microbiome that has existed in your body since birth can establish itself strongly.
A natural soap recipe that I use for washing clothes is as follows:
2 bars Fels-Naptha
1 1/2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cups borax
Cut the Fels-Naptha and grind it into a powder with the borax and baking soda. Scoop into a laundry machine as normal.
Reset The Air
Step Four | 1 Hour to 1 Day | 10 Points
Though in very low percentages, microorganisms live and float in the air. If the air in the living space is “thick” and hasn’t been aired out recently, then it will carry more microbiome and viruses than it could otherwise. Bringing fresh air from nature into the environment will cleanse the microbiome of the air. Smudging with sage also will clean air of microorganisms.
Open all windows for at least 1 hour, better would be for all day
Dust the area
Remove any air polluters. This could include trash, food waste, unclean bathrooms, a litter box, etc.
Clean and/or replace air filters
Grow plants in the living space, they naturally purify air over time
Clean the Living Space
Step Five | Time Variable | 15 points
Cleaning the living space, especially the kitchen and bathroom, is a very important way of cleansing the microbiome. Food contains a rich microbiome that originated in its home environment, and the bathroom contains the output microbiome from that food after being processed by the body. Wiping surfaces clean of all marks, discolorations, and gunk will ensure that any microbiome that lives on those surfaces will be extremely minimal as there will be no large food source available nearby.
Cleaning a Bathroom
Scrub a toilet clean with a cup of borax, flush and then clean the bowl again with a natural soap like Dr. Bronner’s.
Wipe all surfaces with a natural cleaner like white vinegar, a dilute soap, baking soda, or borax.
Clean mirror with a rag and disinfectant so no visible marks exist on the mirror’s surface
Clean the bowl of the bathroom sink
Scrub the floor and shower/bathtub with baking soda, borax, or bleach.
Cleaning a Kitchen
Remove all unused food from the refrigerator, wipe all surfaces clean
Clean all kitchen counters
Remove all food from the pantry causes gastrointestinal issues
Sweep the floor
Note - If caustic chemicals are used, wear the appropriate safety gear to stay protected.
Fasting
Step Six | 24 hours | 20 Points
Not eating any food will apply an evolutionary pressure on the internal microbiome causing all microorganisms that cannot subsist without immediately available energy to die. Symbiotic gut microorganisms that are hardy and are comfortable slowly digesting fiber, protein, and tough plant matter for energy will survive a 24 hour fast, and after the refeed meal they will repopulate the gut in greater numbers improving digestion of food in the future. A 24 hour fast is best scheduled from dinner to dinner. The last dinner eaten before a fast should contain ample fiber, protein, fats, and greens.
Example pre 24 hour fast dinner:
Roasted butternut squash or sweet potato
Serving of protein (like tempeh, wild cooked fish, grass fed meat)
Salad or sautéed vegetables (like swiss chard, garlic, onions)
1 cup of kombucha
If dinner is eaten at 6 pm, then waking up at 8 am the following morning means 14 hours of fasting is already complete!
Drinking herbal teas throughout the fast will increase the rate of healing for the tissues of the gut and apply more pressure to the microbiome to symbiotically adapt.
Peppermint tea is a wonderful digestive aid that helps with all manner of gastrointestinal issues from gas and bloating to IBS and food intolerances.
Green tea increases metabolism and contains potent antioxidant chemicals known as catechins. These green tea polyphenols are rapidly absorbed by the tissues of the gut and react with free radicals, reducing inflammation.
Gut supplements can also be taken with a fast to increase it’s efficacy. Piperine is derived from black pepper and it’s a cure-all for the digestive system, increasing mucus and acid production while neutralizing free radicals. Piperine also normalizes gut motility and has antimicrobial properties.
Herbal supplement blends consisting or oregano oil, wormwood, clove, and black walnut hull together are a gentle yet potent antimicrobial that if used over time removes parasites from the body. The easiest way to supplement with these four herbs together is by using the premade supplement SCRAM. Follow the dosing instructions on the bottle for full effect, but in the context of a one day microbiome cleanse, 10 pills taken at once with water or tea will be effective.
Stay well hydrated and break the fast with the same meal that was eaten 24 hours prior. Resume normal dietary practices afterwards, or if the digestive system is in need of a greater therapeutic healing, follow a foodfasting protocol.
If the fast cannot be successfully completed due to low energy midway through, then their are two options. A nutrient dense snack like pumpkin seeds can be eaten until energy levels return to normal, or if more energy is required, the fast can be broken immediately with the dinner originally planned.
Snacking on pumpkin seeds during a fast is an excellent option because they contain important nutrients like iron, zinc, magnesium, healthy fats, protein, and fiber. Pumpkin seeds are digested easily and are antimicrobial and anti-parasitic as well.
The One Day Microbiome Cleanse
Calculate your microbiome cleansing score using the chart below:
0 - 10 points | Mini microbiome cleaning 👅
10 - 30 points | Microbiome improvements were made 🧼
30 - 50 points | New microbiome environment established 🧹
50 - 70 points | Complete microbiome cleanse ✨
If you did all of the steps above including the heat/cold therapy bonus then congratulations, you were successful in successfully cleansing your internal and external microbiome! With less pathogens in the environment your health and wellness should improve.
There exists a strong connection between the microbiome and behavior of a person. Performing a microbiome cleanse is another way of cleansing the energy of a space and purifying your internal energy. While performing the cleanse grow and foster positive thoughts that encourage joy, happiness, compassion, faith, confidence, and success. Use a one day microbiome cleanse as a way to cultivate wellness and hygiene habits that keep you and others healthy and safe. Life is continuously changing, so having an occasional microbiome cleanse day is a great way to keep the vines off the tree 😉
Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on.
The Holistic Gut Health Guide contains all the information you need to identify and understand the gastrointestinal and microbiome problems you may have while also providing you the most effective natural methods you can use to heal your gut. No gut health problems are unsolvable, give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.
Some of the information in the Holistic Gut Health Guide isn’t common knowledge but when implemented it is highly effective in healing the gut and shifting the microbiome towards symbiosis. Give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.
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